Brutus as a Tragic Hero in Julius Caesar Essay

A Tragic Hero in Brutus

A tragic hero often has three important characteristics; his superiority which makes his destruction seem more tragic, his goodness which arouses pity, and his tragic flaws. In the Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus is an excellent example of a hero with tragic flaws.

Brutus is superior because of his close friendship with powerful Caesar and because of his popularity with the people. The conspirators need Brutus to join the conspiracy because of his friendship with Caesar and his popularity among the people.

Brutus idealism and goodness are evident throughout the play; he sees only the goodness in people and naively believes others are as honourable as he. Even his enemy, Mark Antony, comments on these traits at the end of the play:

This was the noblest Roman of them all.

Brutus tragic flaws are idealism, honour, and poor judgment which are taken advantage of at first by Cassius and later by Mark Antony. Brutus major flaw is his idealism, his belief that people are basically good. His first misjudgement of character is of Casca who he believes should not be taken too seriously. Cassius disagrees and states that Casca just puts on this appearance:

However he puts on this tardy form. This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, which gives men stomach to digest his words with better appetite.

Brutus next misjudgement of character involves Cassius intentions. Brutus believes that Cassius wants to assassinate Caesar for the good of Rome, while Cassius truly wants power and a Rome not under Caesars control. Cassius manipulates gullible Brutus with mention of ancestors and of his honour. At the same time, Cassius points out Caesars weaknesses: his deafness, his epileptic fits, and lack of swimming ability. Brutus continues his misjudgement when he reads the forged letters and believes that these express the true feelings of the citizens of Rome.

The letter opens with this quote:

Brutus, thou sleepst; awake, and see thyself., If the redress will follow, thou recievest thy full petition at the hand of Brutus.

Had Brutus been an observant man, he would have remembered Cassius telling him to allow others to serve as mirrors. Brutus idealism continues to surface when he does not believe it necessary to take an oath of agreement to the cause. He says:

No, not an oath. If not the face of men, the sufferance of our souls, the times abuse if these be motives weak, break off betimes.

Brutus tries to cover the conspiracy with honour and virtue. He is only fooling himself, because the other conspirators do not share his intentions. The turning point of the play and Brutus major tragic flaw concerns his judgment of Mark Antony. Brutus sees Antony as gamesome and harmless without Caesar while Cassius sees Antony as a shrewd contriver. When the other conspirators want to kill Antony along with Caesar, Brutus declares:

For Antony is but a limb of Caesar. Lets be sacrificers, but not butchers.

Brutus wants to be honourable which leads to the conspiracys destruction. Another one of his mistakes is allowing Antony to speak at Caesars funeral. Brutus sees no harm in allowing Antony to speak after he has already spoken. Antony effectively arouses the crowds emotions with Caesars body and will and turns them against the conspirators, saying that they are murderers. His final fatal errors are meeting Antonys and Octavius army at Philippi and the misjudging of his armys attack, an event which endangers his armies. Brutus idealism leads to his downfall. His innocence and transparency of intentions cause him to trust the motives of others. He believes he is doing the right thing:

What is best for Rome and the Roman people?

The personalities that allow him to be a successful private man are the ones that hurt him in public life. He does not make quick and good judgments because of his ethical and moral views.

Brutus is a combination of positive and negative qualities. First of all, all Shakespeares plays, have a centre of drama where someone with a high sensitive moral principles, suffers and dies because of a tragic weakness, where in this case, is when he refuses to make an oath among the conspirators, and the result of this, was Artemidorus finding out, and second was disagreeing to kill Anthony, and the result of this was Anthony turning Rome against the conspirators. Also, Brutus has a very good representation, which is a stunning success, when he tries to convince himself that Caesar must die for the good of Rome. Finally, and most importantly, Brutus best qualities drag him down, but he does struggle for justice and self-understanding, and he proves himself to be an outstanding tragic hero.